New FSO system from Terabeam delivers high bandwidth in dense urban areas
March 3, 2004 Redmond, WA -- Terabeam Corp., provider of broadband wireless systems, recently unveiled a new addition to its free space optics (FSO) product line, the Terabeam Avara system.
Avara is the latest in a line of high bandwidth, carrier-grade systems developed by Terabeam. Designed for outdoor installations, the new system provides bandwidths of 125/155 Mbits/sec, independent of transport protocol, which is equivalent to over 80/100 T-1 circuits respectively.
Avara operates at a wavelength of 850 nm and is completely eye safe, with a Class 1 IEC/CDRH rating, which means no warning labels or access restrictions are required. Its license-free operation alleviates the need for spectrum licensing or frequency planning. Thanks to high performance lasers, the system provides reliable performance with a mean time between failure (MTBF) of one million hours.
Ideal for dense metro deployments in the range of 20 meters to 1 kilometer, the new system, Avara's lightweight, advanced industrial design includes an integrated scope for ease of alignment and high/low power settings for optimized performance. The system also includes built-in management functionality using Secure Network Management Protocol (SNMP) version 1.
"Our new Avara system is a very cost-effective solution for high-bandwidth connectivity at ranges less than one kilometer," reports John Schuster, chief technology officer of Terabeam. "The system is ideal for deployments in dense urban applications such as mobile wireless backhaul, single customer access, multi-tenant building access, enterprise E1/T1, Fast Ethernet extension, and LAN-to-LAN or campus connectivity."
"Customer deployments can require both short and long range links, as well as different levels of functionality," adds Dan Hesse, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Terabeam. "Avara allows us to provide customers with a lower cost solution when the longer ranges and full feature set of our Elliptica product may not be needed."
The Avara 125-Mbit/sec system is commercially available for a list price of $12,000 per system. Estimated availability for the Avara 155-Mbit/sec system is Q2 2004.